Communications Psychology
April 28, 2026
Valentina Elce, Giorgia Bontempi, Serena Scarpelli et al.
Dreams are universal yet highly idiosyncratic experiences. While memories and personal concerns are known to influence dream content, how such influences evolve over time and how stable individual traits shape dreaming remain unclear. Here, we systematically quantified the semantic structure of dreams in a large, multimodal dataset comprising 3366 reports of dreams and waking experiences...
Journal of Sleep Research
April 1, 2026
Severin Ableidinger, Luigi De Gennaro, Sérgio Mota-Rolim et al.
During lucid dreaming (LD), dreamers are aware that they are dreaming and may be able to influence the oneiric content. There has been recent debate about the relative importance of the ability to influence the dream and having agency over the pure awareness of dreaming. To underline this, we examined the associations of lucid dreams without agency (LD-Ag) and lucid dreams with agency (LD + Ag)...
Journal of Sleep Research
February 1, 2026
Courtney J Bolstad, Bjørn Bjorvatn, Ngan Yin Chan et al.
The present study aimed to describe the prevalence rates of frequent (i.e., at least weekly) dream recall and nightmares with consideration for differences in age, gender and sleep duration in 16 countries using equivalent assessment methods. The study sample included 15,854 participants (69.9% women) aged 18-99 years (M = 42.39, SD = 16.43) collected by the International COVID-19 Sleep Study...
Nature Communications
August 13, 2025
William Wong, Rubén Herzog, Kátia Cristine Andrade et al.
10 citations
Magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) studies of dreaming are an essential paradigm in the investigation of neurocognitive processes of human consciousness during sleep, but they are limited by the number of observations that can be collected per study. Dream research also involves substantial methodological and conceptual variability, which poses problems for the integration of results. To...
Journal of Sleep Research
August 1, 2025
Marta Spinoni, Serena Scarpelli, Ilaria Di Pasquale Benedetti et al.
2 citations
The gestational period is a sensitive time marked by significant changes that can affect women's sleep and dreaming processes, with an augmented frequency and recall of dreams suggesting that dreaming represents an adaptive mechanism of emotional regulation. This study investigates the relationship between pregnancy-related variables, alexithymia, and depressive symptoms in influencing dream...
Oxford University Press eBooks
May 22, 2025
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Luigi De Gennaro
1 citation
Abstract Nightmare disorder is a rapid-eye-movement (REM) parasomnia provoking disturbing oneiric activity and significant distress. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the diagnostic criteria and definition of this sleep disorder. The authors reviewed findings on neural correlates of nightmares, also examining the changes over the life span. They describe the most common comorbid...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
May 21, 2025
Valentina Elce, Giorgia Bontempi, Serena Scarpelli et al.
1 citation
preprint
Dreams are universal yet deeply personal experiences. While memory and personal concerns influence dream content, the impact of other individual, generalizable traits remains poorly understood. To address this gap, we built a multimodal dataset including dream and wakefulness reports, alongside demographic, psychometric, cognitive, and sleep-related measures in a large adult cohort. Natural...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
January 14, 2025
Elisa Pellegrini, Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
Introduction: Brain and sleep development in childhood shapes emotional and cognitive growth, including the ability to recall dreams. In line with the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, several findings suggest a link between clinical symptoms and nightmare frequency. Sleep disorders and anxiety are among the most frequently co-occurring conditions in children and adolescents with autism...
Nature and Science of Sleep
2025
Serena Scarpelli, Marta Spinoni, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
1 citation
This study investigated dream characteristics in women during the first trimester of pregnancy compared to a group of non-pregnant women, aiming to identify variables associated with the observed differences. A sample of 100 pregnant women in their first trimester was compared to a control group of 100 age-matched non-pregnant women. Participants completed online questionnaires to assess dream...
Current opinion in pulmonary medicine
November 1, 2024
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Luigi De Gennaro
Dreaming has only recently become a topic of scientific research. This review updates current findings on dream studies, emphasizing recent research on the neural mechanisms of dreaming. Additionally, it summarizes new evidence on the functional role of dreams, including insights from studies on dreams and nightmares during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Recent advances on...
Journal of Sleep Research
October 1, 2024
Courtney J Bolstad, Brigitte Holzinger, Serena Scarpelli et al.
The association between nightmare frequency (NMF) and suicidal ideation (SI) is well known, yet the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this relation is inconsistent. This study aimed to investigate changes in NMF, SI, and their association during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in 16 countries using a harmonised questionnaire. The sample included 9328 individuals (4848 women; age...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
August 1, 2024
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Luigi De Gennaro et al.
Changes in sleep and dreams are often observed during pregnancy. Dreaming may represent privileged access to the inner world of individuals, providing relevant information about their well-being. For this reason, a growing but heterogeneous literature has investigated dream experiences of pregnant women. The present paper aimed to systematically review the available evidence on the relationship...
Journal of Sleep Research
June 1, 2023
Elisabetta Fasiello, Serena Scarpelli, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder is a REM sleep parasomnia characterised by the loss of the physiological muscle atonia during REM sleep, resulting in dream enactment behaviours that may cause injuries to patients or their bed partners. The nocturnal motor episodes seem to respond to the dream contents, which are often vivid and violent. These behavioural and oneiric features...
Frontiers in Psychology
May 18, 2023
Giada Rapelli, Giorgia Varallo, Serena Scarpelli et al.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused several psychological consequences for the general population. In particular, long-term and persistent psychopathological detriments were observed in those who were infected by acute forms of the virus and need specialistic care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) has shown promising results in managing nightmares of...
May 16, 2023
William Wong, Kátia C. Andrade, Thomas Andrillon et al.
21 citations
preprint
Magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) studies of dreaming are an essential paradigm in the investigation of neurocognitive processes of human consciousness during sleep, but they are limited by the number of observations that can be collected per study. Dream research also involves substantial methodological and conceptual variability, which poses problems for the integration of results. To...
Nature and Science of Sleep
2023
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Milena Camaioni et al.
3 citations
COVID-19 pandemic waves have strongly influenced individuals' behaviors and mental health. Here, we analyzed longitudinal data collected in the Spring 2020 and 2021 from a large Italian sample with the aim of assessing changes in dream features between the first and third wave. Specifically, we evaluated the modifications of pandemic dream activity as a function of the general distress...
Journal of Sleep Research
November 18, 2022
Serena Scarpelli, Alessandra de Santis, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
29 citations
Recent investigations show that many people affected by SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) report persistent symptoms 2-3 months from the onset of the infection. Here, we report the Italian findings from the second International COVID-19 Sleep Study survey, aiming to investigate sleep and dream alterations in participants with post-acute symptoms, and identify the best determinants of these alterations among...
Journal of Clinical Medicine
October 28, 2022
Elisabetta Fasiello, Serena Scarpelli, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
Sleep parasomnias have drawn the interest of sleep experts because they represent a valuable window to directly monitor dream activity and sleep mentation associated with nocturnal events. Indeed, parasomnias and their manifestations are helpful in investigating dream activity and features, overcoming methodological limits that affect dream study. Specifically, REM sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD)...
Nature and Science of Sleep
August 1, 2022
Brigitte Holzinger, Franziska Nierwetberg, Frances Chung et al.
16 citations
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic affects mental health and sleep, resulting in frequent nightmares. Therefore, identifying factors associated with nightmare frequency is important, as it can indicate mental health issues. The study aimed to investigate increases in nightmare frequency comparing the pre-pandemic and pandemic period, and identify its risk factors. Further, the mediating role of...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
May 25, 2022
Maurizio Gorgoni, Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
According to several influential models, dreams can be affected by state- and trait-like factors, sleep features, and diurnal experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic globally affected daily habits, emotional experiences, and sleep. Previous studies suggested an influence of collective traumatic events on dreaming. Starting from these premises, several studies assessed the effect of the pandemic on...
Journal of Sleep Research
April 13, 2022
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
64 citations
Several studies have tried to identify the neurobiological bases of dream experiences, nevertheless some questions are still at the centre of the debate. Here, we summarise the main open issues concerning the neuroscientific study of dreaming. After overcoming the rapid eye movement (REM) - non-REM (NREM) sleep dichotomy, investigations have focussed on the specific functional or structural...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
March 24, 2022
Maurizio Gorgoni, Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
7 citations
A growing body of evidence highlights that the COVID-19 pandemic affected oneiric activity. However, only a few studies have assessed the longitudinal changes in dream phenomenology during different phases of the pandemic, often focused on a limited number of dream variables. The aim of the present study was to provide an exhaustive assessment of dream features during total lockdown (TL) and a...
Journal of Sleep Research
February 1, 2022
Serena Scarpelli, Maurizio Gorgoni, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
37 citations
The Coronavirus 2019 pandemic strongly affected our sleep and dream activity. Many cross-sectional studies highlighted increased dream recall frequency, and revealed a great presence of pandemic-related oneiric contents. Here, we present the first prospective study carried out on an Italian sample. One-hundred subjects were requested to fill out a web-survey including socio-demographic...
Nature and Science of Sleep
2022
Serena Scarpelli, Michael R Nadorff, Bjørn Bjorvatn et al.
A growing number of studies have demonstrated that the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected sleep and dream activity in healthy people. To date, no investigation has examined dream activity specifically in COVID-19 patients. As part of the International COVID-19 Sleep Study (ICOSS), we compared 544 COVID-19 participants with 544 matched-controls. A within-subjects...
Brain Sciences
October 20, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
23 citations
Recent literature shows that the Coronovirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has provoked significant changes in dreaming. The current study intends to provide an update about dream variable changes during the second wave of COVID-19. A total of 611 participants completed a web survey from December 2020 to January 2021. Statistical comparisons showed that subjects had lower dream-recall frequency,...